UN-CONSCIOUS-CITY WIEL ARETS
UN-CONSCIOUS-CITY WIEL ARETS
00:00:00 — 01:12:00 UNCONSCIOUS PROCESSING PERCEPTION, MEMORY, LEARNING, THOUGHT AND LANGUAGE WITHOUT AWARENESS.
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PROMPTER Wiel, when did you first become interested in the ‘un’, in regards to the act of being unconscious? It is the foundation of what we are calling, and what we are about to discuss: the Unconscious City. THE ARCHITECT When I first began studying, I originally choose to focus on physics. I did this because I believed that physics had to do with the unknown, the uncertain, and even the unconscious. Many things are still unknown, or have an unknown outcome. The first man on the Moon, for instance, or the robot; these developments led to unknown destinations, with unknown potential for further discoveries. The idea of the unknown is something that I’ve been interested in for a very long time. Yet once I made the decision to begin studying architecture, and when I was con fronted with my architecture professors, it only took me three weeks to realize that I had to go to the library, because my profes sors were lecturing in an omniscient way. PROMPTER Does that mean you enjoy the potential to dis cover, which seems to be endlessly possible in libraries because of their seemingly limitless amount of knowledge? The ways in which we use a library reminds me of a rhizome structure, with no hierarchy, enabling its users to go in any possible direction, without knowing their destination.
‘...the rhizome connects any point to any other point, and its traits are not necessarily linked to traits of the same 00:04:30
nature; it brings into play very different regimes of signs, and even nonsign states... It is composed not of units but of dimensions, or rather directions in motion. It has neither be gin ning nor end, but always a middle (milieu) from which it grows and which it overspills... The rhizome proceeds by variation, expansion, conquest, capture, off-shoots. Unlike the graphic arts, drawing or pho tography, unlike tracings, the rhi zome pertains to a map that... is always detachable, connectable, reversible, modifi able, and has multiple entryways and exits and its own lines of flight.’ —Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987), 23.
PROMPTER How would you, then, describe your relationship with your professors during your studies, especially considering that the role has been reversed, and today you are a professor yourself?
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01:12:00 — 02:24:00 COUNTRYSIDE WHERE THE CITY STOPS THE COUNTRYSIDE BEGINS.
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people: optimists – everything will be fine, no matter what; pessimists – everything will go wrong and there’s nothing they can do; possibil itists – it will all be great in the end. Therefore, what’s the role of the architect, concerning tech nology? Are they an optimist, believing in the technical evolution, or someone who believes in possibility, who is making things possible? THE ARCHITECT Perhaps I don’t fit into one of these categorizations. I believe in something else. I believe in progress that’s not necessarily reliant on new technology. It can be the opposite. Progressive means that you want to do things better. If you need technology to do that, it’s OK. But what is progress? I believe it’s simple to define. I believe that in the whole history of mankind, man has never done anything against being progressive. Progressive means that we do things in a better or easier way. Maybe we’ll soon dis cover that we can source energy from ocean waves, and the ocean and its waves will remain – we will not only admire them from a beach. Maybe we will discover a simple tool, a technology that allows us to deal, in an advanced way, with energy from the wind. Is that progressive? Yes. Is it high tech? Maybe not. Pro gressive, for me, also means the changing of our relationships. Is it change for the better? I don’t know. But we have changed our family ties. With Facebook, for example, Marc Zuckerberg didn’t start out with the goal of inventing a product; he did something because he wanted to react to, and manipulate, his environment. Is that progress? Is that new? I was watching a TV program about lover boys. A lover boy is another name for a pimp. Technology now helps these men. Of course that’s bad, but it’s progress. But then again, progress is not always good. We should fight against what is not good for society, such as sexual slavery. It is the same with medicine, alcohol, and drugs. It may help you, but it’s also not so good for your organs. So then, when do you then use it? It’s a choice, a choice city. Choice is very important. Optimist; pessimist; possi
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bilist. We live in a choice society. Everyone must respect every one else, regardless of perceivable differences. And when we collectively make these choices – as we did with the atom bomb – we have the power to decide, collectively, not to use it. It has to do with responsibility, and with choices. Choice is very important. The more developed we are, the more we can consciously make decisions. But first we have to define where and what decisions are based upon, since some will have a global impact. At the same time, I believe the unconsciousness is becoming more prominent. People now say: In a few years books will disappear. The iPad will become hugely successful. It already is. But something, how- ever, will soon replace, and supercede it. But I believe that on some occasions, printed material is much more comfortable, approachable, and easier to relate to. There are two options available. Thus, there are still choices to be made. We all know that the more developed people are – the more intelligence they possess – the more their unconscious develops. I strongly be- lieve that the more one reads, the more one walks in the city; the more one’s unconscious is challenged. The opposition between being unconscious and conscious is a debate that human beings must engage in. It is impossible to always walk around con sciously; we heavily depend on the unconscious. Knowing that, it’s strange that we, as architects and planners, continue to talk as if the only criteria were consciousness. PROMPTER If we imagine that only conscious decisions were being made, the world would go in another direction. Take the iPhone: There’s a calendar, a phone, but people buy it for reasons that go beyond these basic features that it possesses. With the iPhone, you feel as if you have everything at your fingertips – but you don’t. What are your concerns about technology? THE ARCHITECT There are certainly concerns. I’m not someone who is interested in all kinds of technological development. All my life I’ve been
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machines, with zero noise, too. They will be comfortable and better alternatives to what we now have. I believe that humans are driven by progress. History proves that. In the near future we’ll once again hear birds singing in cities, rather than only machinery and the motors of vehicles. PROMPTER Is the amount of necessary energy related to its later attraction? I think that the moment we realize how progressive certain innovations really are, that we will have an attraction to them, which might be because they show us something we haven’t yet thought about. THE ARCHITECT There was an exhibition at MoMA, ‘Information Art: Diagram ming Microchips’, which took place in 1990. There’s an accompa nying exhibition catalogue, which includes integrated circuits. A circuit is really old fashioned. Lets call it a chip. These are in our phones. This exhibition showed many circuits, all at the same size, positioned in one room. The choice to use one was based upon the circuit that used the lowest amount of energy. And the one that looked the best, I had the feeling, also used the least energy. The circuit builders are called architects. So when the architect of an integrated circuit uses the least amount of energy, and it looks great, well, that’s an interesting aspect to ponder.
‘The integrated circuit is one of the most sophisticated and influential products of our tech nological civilization. It is also among our most complex, most powerful, and least expen sive devices, and the smallest. 04:07:30
Its invention in 1958 brought about the microelectronics in dustry, which today is the sec ond largest in the United States. The impact of the inte grated circuit has been revolutionary. Not only has it estab lished entirely new standards for mass production that require methods of fabrication and a degree of precision hitherto un known in the industrial age, but it has lead to the develop ment of many products that did not exist twenty years ago.’ —Cara McCarty, Information Art: Diagramming Microchips (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1990), 4.
As the architect of a building, I must understand the brief and I must develop something which people will, hopefully, find beau tiful. Hopefully because of its progressiveness. There are sev eral types of architects, and I think that I belong amongst those who work in such a way. I have to develop a brief, a strategy, a concept, and at the end, there’s a product. And in the end, after several resets, it will be a product with a certain shape. It always develops throughout the process. The result should be a product, a building, which one could describe as an architecture of free dom. But then there are architects who begin with the shape. PROMPTER Our understanding of beauty is very subjective,
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06:00:00 — 07:12:00 UNCC CITIES MUST PREPARE FOR THE RADICAL CHANGES TO COME.
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The following script of thoughts was used to organize this publication’s chapters. It is included here in order to relay the original thoughts that eventually led to this final publication. Similar to the first sketch of a building, which is always different than its completed state; this script serves as the first sketch of this publication, thus documenting the making of this book, during its eight years of development. PREFACE Why are so many books made, even more, than before the idea of a paperless society? A. Why is this book of any relevance, and for whom it is written? B. Vers une Architecture (machine), L’Architettura della Citta (monument), Delirious New York (phenomena). C. Research, Intuition, Zeitgeist. D. The dialogue... Plato, Valéry, Cattaneo... E. History... Generations... Role of the professors and their students... F. AA, Columbia, Berlage Institute, UdK, Princeton, Cooper Union... G. Speculation, no utopias. H. Songlines, as a strategy. UNCONSCIOUS Processing perception, memory, learning, thought, and language without awareness. A. What is the Unconscious City? Urban plan of Barcelona, versus the chaos of Tokyo; physical, versus immaterial; realism, versus surrealism. B. What is the position of the city, the metropolis, and the megacity, within the next seventy-five years? C. Borders, within the city, but also at its edge. D. Hierarchy, Diversity, Multi-center, Living-Working through the pattern of... E. What... will it look... like? 3-D... F. Un-control... un-like... un-un-un-un... G. Who is in charge... mayor/politics... media... financial system...? H. Megapolis... the rest of the mainland, including the jungle, and the... I. BeSeTo and other... Strong-lines... Networks... J. What will be, the position of the village? K. Formal, versus informal... L. Economic values, versus other values... Property-value... How to bring production back into the city... Venice, Brooklyn, Montjuïc, and Montparnasse...
COUNTRYSIDE When the city stops, the countryside begins. A. Nature, jungle... B. Humans, versus animals and plants. C. Tourism... D. Oil, wood, gold... E. Fishing, and hunting. F. Who, exactly, owns what... G. Orbit, Moon, Mars, Venus. ARBEITER Individuals are responsible for their own actions and governments cannot be blamed. A. Ernst JĂźnger... B. Moon... Computer... Robot... Creative... Multiply... C. Free... and... Independent... D. ...the collective... E. Religion, versus sports... F. Media-dominance. G. Child-Student-Worker-Pension? H. Still heroes?... Bill Gates, Madonna, Steve Jobs? ...Are there more; why?... INFRA How do humans physically and mentally move? A. Paul Virilio... Mother and child, versus... Magnitude 4.5... B. Physical distance... versus, digital distance... C. Plane-Train-Car-Bike-Foot. Or...? D. Seventy-two minutes... E. Traffic-knots... versus, other programs... F. Comfort... Megapolis... Cemetery... Style? World? Ocean? G. How do we communicate... H. Do we lose time, while travelling? I. Why do we not communicate with other passengers, when riding the subway? PROGRAM A sequence of instructions. A. The city as a cross-section, of roads and rivers, trading point, gathering exchange... B. The city, was the collective memory.
No one demands that people move to cities; people tend to do so, on their own. People choose to live in cities for opportunity. Such choices are often made unconsciously, as they are based on rules, traditions, and local communities–or a combination of all three. Un-Conscious-City explores and unravels Dutch architect Wiel Arets’ kaleidoscopic viewpoints on the ways the collective, unconscious decisions taken by the world’s citizens throughout time–a process that remains invisible to the naked eye–are now working to transform and shift the physical, sen sory, and emotional experiences of human beings, as they navigate and live in today’s metropolises as well as the countryside. People tend to only belong to one religion, one society, or one club–which completely defines their existence. One day most human beings will live in a globalnomadic-urban-condition; this will soon be amplified to unknown heights. Un-Conscious-City raises questions, predicaments, and ideals re garding the future of our cities, while recognizing their limitations. Wiel Arets–renowned architect, writer, and thinker–identifies this con dition as the Un-Conscious-City.